NAV Portugal Partners with SITA as Single
European Sky Comes into Force

NAV Portugal, the air navigation service
provider for Portuguese airspace, has partnered with air transport
communications provider SITA to implement the data link
infrastructure required to comply with the EU Regulations for the
Single European Sky, which come into force this month.

The regulation mandates that Western European
air navigation service providers and airlines implement Controller
Pilot Data Link Communication (CPDLC). The move is estimated by
Eurocontrol to enable an increase of 11% of air traffic capacity
in Western Europe and a 29% reduction of the work load of the air
traffic controllers.

Under the ten-year agreement
with NAV Portugal, SITA will provide the air/ground data link
communication infrastructure to enable CPDLC service in NAV
Portugal’s upper airspace. It will use VHF Data Link Mode 2
(VDLm2) and Aeronautical Telecommunication Network (ATN)
technology as mandated by the European regulation. The
infrastructure includes eight VHF Ground Stations and SITA’s
AIRCOM Monitoring System. These stations will service both air
traffic control and airline operational communications in the
Portuguese airspace.

Carlos Antonio Alves,
Director, NAV Portugal, said, “NAV Portugal has been a SITA
customer for many years and SITA has proven ability to provide the
complete air/ground communication infrastructure. SITA is
providing us an end-to-end service from the aircraft antenna to
the interface to the ground air traffic control systems, ensuring
consistent and integrated services.”

Philip Clinch,
SITA Vice President, Aircraft Communications, added, “This
partnership is well underway with many of the NAV Portugal ground
stations already deployed. We have drawn on our experience from
similar partnerships that we established with air navigation
service providers across Europe including in Germany, France,
Spain and Switzerland, and are confident that this too will be a
win-win for NAV Portugal and SITA.”

CPDLC enables
pilots and air traffic controllers to exchange certain routine air
traffic control messages via data link replacing the traditional
means of communication over radio that have been used in the
industry for more than 50 years. With CPDLC safety will be
enhanced thanks to the replacement of congested, bad-quality voice
channels by data channels where messages are unambiguous and
available on screen in the cockpit.